a greater understand we need to sit down and work together and avoid this fiscal cliff. >> debbie, always a pleasure. good to see you. let's bring in lori montgomery for "the washington post," democratic strategy blake zeff. we decided to focus on this today. lori, let me start with you. both house leaders today, it really seems as if talks are -- it seems they're at a standstill, but our first read team is convinced a deal is in sight. we heard from debbie wasserman schultz she heard a deal is in sight. what are you hearing? >> you can see what the framework of a deal is, and i think today you heard speaker boehner. his office tried to walk it back, but for the first time he made public remarks where he didn't rule out an increase in tax rates. you have to wonder if they don't start to move towards a resolution it to what has been the big stumbling point. >> zachary, she mentioned an increase in rates. it would seem that the magic number might be 37%. the president said 39.5% for the highest income earners. right now we're at 35%. maybe i'm oversimplifying, but the obvious compromise wou